Ancient Egyptian Mythology

The Ancient Egyptians: To understand the everyday life of ancient Egyptians, Egyptologists drew on many valuable sources including tomb paintings, writings, and objects included in tombs that the Egyptians used in their daily life. Artifacts excavated and hundreds of documents written by the ancient Egyptians shed additional light on their life. The fundamental social unit of ancient Egypt was the working family. While the father was responsible for the well-being of the family, the mother took care of the household and cared for the children, and their upbringing. Although Egyptian children are occasionally depicted at play with toys, their time was spent in preparing for their adulthood, by training on work. Farmer's children accompanied their parents into the fields; craftsmen got their male offspring helping as apprentices to their fathers. Scribes and officials children normally received formal education to become scribes or army officers. Religion in Ancient Egypt: The religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians had a dominating influence in the development of their culture, although a unified theological system, was never intended to exist among them. Egyptian belief was based on a collection of ancient myths, ritual worship, and adoration of the innumerable local deities. Religion guided all aspects of ancient Egyptian daily life. Egyptian religion was based on polytheistic triads, or the worship of a pantheon of gods, abolished during the reign of King Akenaten. Egyptian gods and goddesses were represented as part human and part animal. Some, such as Amon, were worshipped nationwide, while others had only a local following. Egyptian Creation Myths: Ancient Egyptians had many mythical tales about the world beginning. According to one Myth, it started with an ocean in darkness, out of which dry land came up and the sun god Re appeared, creating light and all other things. Another version has the sun God appearing as a scarab beetle on the eastern horizon, or emerging from a sacred blue lotus, out of mud. Temples were everywhere, being dwelling places for the gods, so men could communicate with them. Later, tombs became a part of great temples. Mummification & Burial: Burying the dead was of main religious concern in Egypt, and Egyptian funerary rituals had become the most sophisticated the world has ever known. The Egyptians believed that the vital life-force was composed of several psych elements, of which the ka, was the principal. The ka, a twin duplicate of the body, accompanied it throughout life and, after death, when it departed from the body to take its place in the kingdom of the dead. However, the ka, vanished without its body; therefore, every effort was to be made, to preserve the dead body. After a person died, the priests recited prayers in an attempt to revive the deceased. The deceased body was then washed and perfumed before it was then taken to the embalmer's hall. All the organs were removed through a cut in the l